This Wednesday, March 26th, Latvia will be visited by the Commander of NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum Hans-Lothar Domröse.

He will meet with Latvian Defence Minister Raimonds Vejonis and Commander of Latvian National Forces Raimonds Graube. They will discuss the situation in Ukraine and the next steps NATO should take in order to strengthen security in the Baltic States, as reported by Defence Ministry.

Hans-Lothar Domröse will also visit Latvia’s National Defence Academy, where he will be shown Latvia’s military education system.

NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum is based in the Netherlands. It is one of two operational control structures of NATO. It also serves as the higher headquarters for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Its objectives also include the operational planning of Article 5 of NATO treaty, including in the Baltic region, and airspace patrolling operations.

BNN had previously reported that Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite met with U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this week. During their meeting Obama reassured her that the Baltic region remains under the watchful eye of USA.

Both presidents shared a short conversation in Hague during the ongoing Nuclear Security Council. According to Grybauskaite, this conversation briefly touched the matters related to the Baltic region and security of Baltic States, as well as the situation in Ukraine.

Grybauskaite said she was happy to hear that the U.S. President’s promise to keep the Baltic region under close watch and within the interests of USA remains active. ‘In this case, we can feel safe and resolve our security matters with help from this great country,’ – she said.

As previously reported, after his meeting with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and Latvian President Andris Bērziņš, Vice President of the United States of America Joe Biden said USA is very serious about its relations with Baltic States on account of Article 5 of the Washington Treaty on collective defence. ‘We will respond to any aggression against a NATO ally,’ – he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a visit this Wednesday to Kaliningrad, the westernmost point of Russia, but the reports about his trip in the Russian enclave and over the border in Lithuania were strikingly different.

Latvian airBaltic airline carried 393,312 passengers in July 2017, which is 21% more than the same period last year. The number of passengers carried by airBaltic remains the highest it has ever been in the airline’s history, BNN was informed by the company.

U.S. Air Force Brigade’s Task Force Phoenix helicopters, which are stationed in Latvia as part of Atlantic Resolve operation, will be performing low-altitude flights from 16:00 to 18:00 from Lielvarde to Dobele on Friday, 18 August.

An Indian citizen travelling from Moscow on a bus was caught at Terehovo border control point in Latvia for presenting officers a fake EU family member’s resident card. No criminal process was launched. The person returned to the country he was travelling from.

From 21 August onward, Rural Support Service plans to start accepting applications for projects to receive support from European Maritime and Fisheries Fund’s action plan for development of fisheries in 2014-2020 as part of projects Innovation, Productive Investments in Aquaculture and Fishing and Aquaculture project processing.

As the Estonian Ministry of Finance wishes to boost the reputation and brand of the Baltic country's public sector, it has announced a procurement tender aimed at preparing an action plan for reaching these goals.

Because of Swedbank’s planned IT modernization work scheduled for the night to Thursday, 17 August, there may be short term problems with payment card and internet banking functionality, the bank warns.

If he became chairman of Unity, Economy Minister Arvils Aseradens would mobilize democratic forces to prevent the possibility of either Aivars Lembergs or Nils Usakovs becoming prime ministers, Aseradens said in an interview to 900 seconds programme of LNT.

The co-founder of the U.S. computer software firm Microsoft, Bill Gates, has allocated to charity 4.6 billion U.S. dollars (3.9 billion euros), which is the philanthropist's highest donation since the year 2000.

Latvia and Russia will exchange 7,000 universal permits for international cargo transports in 2017. This will be the largest universal permit volume in the past 15 years, as reported by Road Directorate.